Tuna and billfish catches
Tuna and tuna-like species are found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans and in the Mediterranean Sea. They are economically very important as well as a significant source of food. Since 1995, FAO's Marine Resources Service has been collecting catch data for tuna and tuna-like species in order to present this information in an atlas on the global distribution of catches. The world production of tuna and tuna-like species has increased continuously from less than 0.6 million tonnes in 1950 to 5.5 million tonnes in 1998 (FAO's most recent statistics). That year, the catch of tuna and tuna-like species accounted for about 8.5 percent of the total production of marine finfishes. The 1998 total catches of the principal market tuna species and all billfishes represent 66 and 2.4 percent, respectively, of all tuna and tuna-like species. With the exception of swordfish, billfishes are captured mainly by recreational fisheries and as by-catches of commercial tuna fisheries. The Atlas (only accessible via Internet) presents the global distribution of catches at a resolution of 5° latitude by 5° longitude for all tuna and tuna-like species. These species consist of the so-called principal market tunas and some billfishes, as listed below (scientific names are given in brackets followed by the FAO abbreviation in upper case). PRINCIPAL MARKET TUNAS BILLFISHES albacore (Thunnus alalunga), ALB Atlantic blue marlin (Makaira nigricans), BUM bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), BET Atlantic white marlin (Tetrapturus albidus), WHM northern bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus), BFT black marlin (Makaira indica), BLM skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis), SKJ Indo-Pacific blue marlin (Makaira mazara), BLZ southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii), SBF striped marlin (Tetrapturus audax), MLS yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), YFT swordfish (Xiphias gladius), SWO   Prepared by Fabio Carocci Marine Resources Service   reference sources Ardill, D.J. 1995. Atlas of industrial tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean. FAO, Colombo (Sri Lanka). Indo-Pacific Development and Management Programme. 1995. 147 pp. Carocci, F. and Majkowski, J. 1996. Pacific tunas and billfishes. Atlas of commercial catches. 9p., 28 maps. Rome, FAO. FAO. 1999. FAO yearbook fishery statistics: capture production 1997. FAO Yearbook Fishery Statistics. Vol. 84. Rome, FAO. 1999. 703p. Fonteneau, A. 1997. Atlas of tropical tuna fisheries. ORSTOM Editions. Paris. 192 pp. Joseph, J. 1997. A review of the status of world tuna resources. In K.P.P. Nambiar & Sudari Pawiro, eds. World Tuna Trade Conference (5th: 1997: Bangkok). Tuna 97 Bangkok: Papers of the 5th World Tuna Trade Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 25-27 October 1997, p. 8-21. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, INFOFISH. 209 pp. Joseph, J., Klawe, W. & Murphy, P. 1988. Tuna and billfish: fish without a country. La Jolla, California, USA, Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. 69 pp. Majkowski, J. 1997. Global resources of tuna and tuna-like species. In FAO, Marine Resources Service, Fishery Resources Division. Review of the state of world fishery resources: marine fisheries. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 920, p. 118-127. Rome. 173 pp. Nambiar, K.P.P. & Sudari Pawiro, eds. 1998. Tuna 97 Bangkok: Papers of the 5th World Tuna Trade Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, 25-27 October 1997. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, INFOFISH, 209 pp.   Top		Comparison of global catch landings with fishing gear-specific catch data used for generating maps Click here for full graph   Quarterly variations of the distribution of recent global bluefin catches of the longline fisheries Click here for full graph   Historical overview of changes to the global distribution on longline catches of tunas Clich here for full graph Distribution of recent catches of species of major importance of the purse seine fisheries Click here for full graph